Conventionally, a thermal energy is included in exhaust gas or the like discharged from an internal combustion engine of a vehicle such as an automobile, and if the exhaust gas is just discarded, the thermal energy is wasted. In view of this, the thermal energy included in the exhaust gas is collected by a thermoelectric power generating device, so as to be converted into an electrical energy and charged into a battery, for example.
As such a conventional thermoelectric power generating device, there has been known a thermoelectric power generating device in which a high-temperature part of a thermoelectric conversion module makes contact with an exhaust pipe into which exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine is introduced, and a low-temperature part of the thermoelectric conversion module makes contact with a cooling water pipe through which cooling water circulates (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The thermoelectric conversion module is configured to include a thermoelectric transducer such as a semiconductor, electrodes, a heat-receiving substrate serving as the high-temperature part, a heat-dissipation substrate serving as the low-temperature part, and the like. The thermoelectric conversion module generates electric power by causing a temperature difference between the high-temperature part and the low-temperature part of the thermoelectric conversion module due to exhaust gas having a high temperature and cooling water at a low temperature by use of a Seebeck effect.